


but not for me

by whysterias



Series: misty [2]
Category: D.N. Angel
Genre: Canon - Manga, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22566061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whysterias/pseuds/whysterias
Summary: in which Ritsuko and Risa have a conversation about BTS, boys, and strawberry milk that plays like it’s in a kdrama.
Relationships: Harada Risa & Fukuda Ritsuko, Harada Risa & Hiwatari Satoshi
Series: misty [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623676
Kudos: 5





	but not for me

“Alright, Risa, what is it this time?”

Risa’s head, framed by strands of hair stuck to her cheeks, emerges from the pile of stuffed animals in Ritsuko’s room. She’s pouting. Ritsuko just sighs before setting a tray of snacks and drinks on the table. She sits down in front of Risa and smiles.

“You only insist on coming over when you have three things you want to talk about: Dark, your sister and Niwa-kun, or Hiwatari-san.” Ritsuko pauses before she smirks. “Oh-ho, is Riku’s blossoming relationship finally making you jealous?”

“No! I am _not_ jealous of her!”

“Did Dark neglect you again?”

“Dark has _never_ neglected me! He just…forgets about me sometimes.”

Ritsuko forces a smile while Risa groans and disappears into the stuffed animals. Out of Risa’s usual complaints, Satoshi is her least favorite one.

When Risa first started talking about Satoshi, Ritsuko was hooked. She wanted to know how Risa ended up in such romantically-coded situations with their their aloof classmate but, after having several conversations with him, spurred by Risa’s grievances, she realized that they stemmed from their resident genius’ social awkwardness and unawareness of the nuances of societal conventions. He would do something; Risa would freak out over it; Ritsuko would talk to him; he would assure her that he didn’t like Risa: rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

Even Risa’s ridiculous frustration towards Satoshi, initially extremely entertaining, had become grating. He’s not a bad guy, so why does Risa possess such unfounded disgust towards him?

“What did Hiwatari-san do to terribly wound you this time?”

Even though she decides to play along with Risa’s antics, the cloying tone of Ritsuko’s voice grates her own ears. What Risa probably took offense to will probably be so ridiculously stupid that she’ll want to attend cram school later to regain the braincells she’ll lose from this conversation.

Risa mumbles something under the smiling face of RJ.

“Hm? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.”

Ritsuko’s sing-song voice momentarily transports her to the mountains of Austria. Oh, how she’d rather be traipsing through green grass than subjected to this. She begins to keep the tune of the “Sound of Music” in her head, mentally humming along—

Risa flings RJ at her wall.

“Did you have to—?”

“ _HE GAVE ME STRAWBERRY MILK!_ ”

Before Ritsuko could get up to grab her llama plushie, she shoots Risa a look of disbelief. Her friend. Is throwing a fit. Because a boy. Gave her. Strawberry. Milk.

_Strawberry. Freaking. Milk._

Ritsuko didn’t think it would be that ridiculous, but Risa always manages to exceed her expectations. She gets up, focusing solely on making sure RJ is okay, before sitting back down and snuggling into the head of her stuffed animal. And when she’s calmed down enough, she takes a deep breath and puts the plushie in her lap down.

She then grabs a pillow from off her bed and smacks Risa with it.

“ _Ow!_ Ritsuko, what was—”

“Are you _kidding_ me? You’re this upset over him giving you strawberry milk? How? _Why?_ And did you _have_ to throw RJ like that?” Ritsuko’s voice hits shrilly pitches, and Risa flinches. “Do you _know_ how much it cost my dad to buy these BT21 plushies during his business trip to Korea? Must you disrespect BTS while you’re at it?”

“…I’m sorry.”

After a deep breath, Ritsuko sits down. Risa’s hand emerges from the pile, reaching for a snack, and Ritsuko silently hands one over to her friend.

“…thank you.”

“Mhm.”

Risa nibbles on it and, when she’s done, she rests her head on Chimmy’s head. She’s pouting again.

“How did he know that strawberry milk was my favorite drink?”

“He likes to people-watch, so he notices stuff like that. I wouldn’t take it to heart.”

“But, when he gave it to me, he said it was a small token of his feelings.”

Ritsuko blinks. She watches Risa groan and dig her face into the plushie she’s resting her head on.

Ritsuko could deal with Satoshi accidentally falling asleep on Risa. Or, as strange as it is, Satoshi asking Risa to help him learn more about femininity.

But this? God, what was _this_?

“What is wrong with that weirdo?”

Risa’s rhetorical question shakes Ritsuko out of her thoughts. She looks over at Risa, hair getting increasingly messy, who’s staring at the wall looking a little lost.

“How does that make you feel?”

The question makes Ritsuko feel like a therapist. She’s always been, in a way, since Risa will confide in her things that she would never admit to Riku. However, they both know those words carry more weight now so, instead of Risa joking about the situation or continuing to throw her fit, she just looks at Ritsuko with those doe eyes.

“…it’s frustrating? I don’t understand what he means.” Risa sighs. “I’ve never understood him, honestly.”

“Do you want to?”

“…I don’t know. I kind of don’t want to.”

“What’s stopping you?”

Risa mulls over her answer. “I love Dark and I know that, no matter what happens, nothing will change that. To me, he’s a home away from home. He’ll greet me with open arms, love me as much as I love him, and meet me where I’m at.”

“What does Dark have anything to do with Hiwatari-san?”

“Hiwatari-san feels like that, too, but I feel like I’m going to hurt him. Or he’s going to hurt me. To me, getting to know Hiwatari-san feels like it’s a heavy burden. I don’t know if I want to put him or myself through that.”

Ritsuko laughs, unsure of how to respond to Risa’s sudden maturity. “Why are you putting Dark and Hiwatari-san on the same level here?”

“Because they are. That level of closeness will probably be the way that my relationship with Hiwatari will play out.”

“And how do you know that?”

Risa smiles. “Because of the strawberry milk.”

She extends her arm, reaching towards the table to grab another snack. Ritsuko silently hands one to her and watches as Risa opens the wrapper. They sit in silence again, but Ritsuko focuses on the clock on her wall, matching the rhythm of her thoughts to the ticking of the second hand. It’s almost time to go to cram school where she can purge this nonsense from her memory.

How the hell did this strawberry milk become so damn important, anyway?

When Risa finishes, she emerges from her cocoon of stuffed animals. She gets up, straightening her uniform and fixing her hairstyle before shooting a grin to her friend still on the floor.

“Thank you, Ritsuko!” Her voice is full of pep. “And sorry about everything.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Ritsuko gets up and accompanies Risa downstairs. Risa slips on her shoes before opening the front door, letting the cool, evening air into the house.

“Have fun at cram school!”

Ritsuko dryly laughs, and she watches Risa skip away. Before she can close the door, Daisuke and Satoshi appear. Risa bounces over to them, energetically greeting Daisuke while furiously ignoring Satoshi.

The scene is laughable, and Ritsuko silently watches from her threshold until they almost disappear behind the tall bushes lining her front yard. Satoshi catches her eye, and he gives her a smile, eyes twinkling under the streetlights, as he brings his finger to his lips. When Ritsuko blinks, she sees his trademarked poker face instead.

Convinced she just had a fever dream, she slams her door shut.

These two might just be the end of her. 


End file.
